Activist Ejected From Meeting With Lawmaker After Asking How Much Money He's Getting From Koch Brothers

"Are you, Rep. Smucker, consciously a mercenary for billionaires who are working to undermine our democracy and weaken the middle class?" Jonathan Smucker wrote on Twitter after he was ejected from a constituent meeting. (Photo: Rep. Lloyd Smucker)

During an RSVP-only meeting on "tax reform" organized by the Koch brothers-backed group Americans for Prosperity Wednesday morning, activist and author Jonathan Smucker demanded to know how much Pennsylvania Rep. Lloyd Smucker (no relation) has received in campaign contributions from Charles and David Koch.

Jonathan was quickly ejected from the event—but he caught part of it on video.

"This is my representative, and I want to know how much the Koch brothers are getting in tax cuts and how much they're contributing to your campaign," Jonathan said. "It's a fair question. We have a right...to get answers from you. You've been avoiding us and meeting with these private groups. And we want to know how much money they're getting in benefits from this [tax] bill."

Answer the questions, Congressman: How much $$ are the Koch brothers getting from this tax bill? And how much $$ are you getting in campaign contributions from the Koch Brothers? pic.twitter.com/jMmhd6jxpH

Jonathan was referring to the $1.5 trillion tax bill President Donald Trump signed into law last December. According to an analysis by Americans for Tax Fairness published last month, the Koch brothers "could save between $1 billion and $1.4 billion combined in income taxes each year" thanks to the new law.

In a Twitter thread following the meeting—which was officially titled "Unrigging the Economy: A Conversation with Congressman Lloyd Smucker"—Jonathan listed the questions he would have asked Rep. Smucker if he had been allowed to stay.

"Are you, Rep. Smucker, consciously a mercenary for billionaires who are working to undermine our democracy and weaken the middle class?" Jonathan wrote. "Are you consciously a mercenary because that's what it takes to get the campaign contributions you think you need to stay in office?"

Mr. Congressman, you're here meeting with an organization founded and funded by the Koch brothers, billionaires whose organization's mission is to gut our nation's revenue so that they can cut then argue that we have to cut popular programs like Social Security and Medicare…

The Koch brothers are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into our political system to buy off our elected office holders—people like you, @RepSmucker. You are bought, Mr. Congressman. You make time for them and you avoid the rest of us, your constituents.

Are you, @RepSmucker consciously a mercenary for billionaires who are working to undermine our democracy and weaken the middle class? Are you consciously a mercenary because that's what it takes to get the campaign contributions you think you need to stay in office?

OR do you actually believe this load of horsecrap? Do you really believe in the snake oil you're selling? Do you genuinely think that working families will magically get a leg up when you give even more money to billionaires?

After the meeting ended, Rep. Smucker tweeted that he "participated in a vibrant discussion this morning in Lancaster on the impacts of tax reform."

He did not address Jonathan's questions.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License

This is the world we live in. This is the world we cover.

Because of people like you, another world is possible. There are many battles to be won, but we will battle them together—all of us. Common Dreams is not your normal news site. We don't survive on clicks. We don't want advertising dollars. We want the world to be a better place. But we can't do it alone. It doesn't work that way. We need you. If you can help today—because every gift of every size matters—please do.

Further

God bless the Finns: They've been there for us after the Idiot-In-Chief visited a ravaged California and babbled how we have to "take care of the floors" and be like Finland where "they spent a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things." Cue pics of dutiful Finns taking to the forest with their rakes and vacuums. Trump also said he still doesn't believe in climate change but "I want great climate." We do too, but first we want a president who's not barking mad.

Common Dreams brings you the news that matters.

Sign up for Newsletter

Connect With Us

Support our common dreams.

Can We Count on Your Help Today?

Common Dreams is a small nonprofit with a big mission. Every day of the week, we publish the most important breaking news & views for the progressive community. To remain an independent news source, we do not advertise, sell subscriptions or accept corporate contributions. Instead, we rely on readers like you, to provide the "people power" that fuels our work. Please help keep Common Dreams alive by making a contribution. Thank you. - Craig Brown, Co-founder